๐๐ผ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
During a short break in the 2022-23 season, Joe Micheletti traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to visit with his older brother, Jim, who was battling incurable pancreatic cancer.
Two other brothers, Tom and Andy, joined him on the trip, where they were greeted by a doctor who suggested they speak with a geneticist
She comes in with a big easel board and puts it on the table,” Joe recalled by phone last week. “She said, โI want to go through your family medical history.โ”
Joe, Tom and Andy โ three of nine Micheletti siblings who were raised in the blue-collar town of Hibbing, Minnesota โ went down the list of family members who had been diagnosed with cancer over the years, beginning with their deceased mother, Mary, and sister, Jean, and extending to several aunts, uncles and cousins.The geneticist was taken aback.
She just kind of sits back in the chair and throws her hands up and says, โYou guys have so much cancer in your family. Itโs way above the norm,'” Joe remembered. “That all opens your eyes.โ
Jim died a couple months later, followed by Tom the next year. A third brother, Don, was diagnosed in that hellish year-and-a-half period, leaving him in a paraplegic state.
That harsh perspective brought the idea of retirement to the forefront, with Joe deciding, “I donโt want to be somebody who dies in the (television) booth.”
